First of all, can I just say how much I appreciate it when the show decides to play the longer form of the Psych theme song at the start of the show? Even if you don’t like this show, it has one of the best original theme songs of any recent TV shows, period.
Right off the bat, I liked the overall theme for this episode. Shawn tells Lassiter to go with his gut, with his first instinct, before knowing how it all connects. He says this because, well, it’s what he does in just about every case he solves. So, Lassiter gives it a shot with the shark attack, and wouldn’t you know it, it pays off. This was the first time I can remember Lassiter really acknowledged how successful Shawn is and, well, how jealous (or envious) he is of it.
This begs the question: will Lassiter take more chances down the line and possibly, finally outshine Shawn in cases being solved? Not likely, but something I wouldn’t mind seeing on this show would be some competition for Shawn, something to spice things up once in a while. So far I’d have to say Psych probably wouldn’t really benefit from a season-long story arch, but it would be interesting to see a foil for Shawn for a few episodes in a row.
Something cool in this episode was the appearance of not one but two notable guest stars: Jeri Ryan and Michael Hogan (Battlestar Galactica). Can I just say that it’s about time Hogan played an old salt? Since BSG I’ve thought Hogan’s true calling was to play a ship captain and … well, he was captaining a boat, but not so much a ship. Worked for me!
The downside to having notable guest stars is that, nine times out of ten, the guilty party is one of the guest stars. I guess it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realize that from any show, so I guess it helped that this episode had two notable, new guests instead of one. I wonder how long Jeri Ryan’s stint will be — oh right, the finale is next week. Nevermind.
A highlight from this episode was not just seeing (and hearing) Gus’s reaction to dead things, but how hard he tried to not let it bother him. Just call him “Guts.” The past few episodes were riddled with awesome quotes, one after another, though there weren’t as many this time around. Here are a couple of gems, though:
“We’re one and the same. We’re Shassie now. We’re Sharlton. We’re Spenciter.” – Shawn
“We’re gonna go out and hunt some Marlin.” – Henry
“Wayans? Well, it’s about time. Get out there quick before they make another White Chicks.” – Shawn
Clacked by Keith McDuffee 
on Mar 03, 2010 @ 23:10 EST5EDT
Great review! This was a fantastic and hysterical episode.
As for Lassiter outshining Shawn– we had that a bit in Season 2- most specifically 65 Millions Years Off (the dino ep), so I’m not sure if they’ll rehash that. It certainly was interesting to see him try to “Out Spencer, Spencer”, heh.
It was also so good to see more scenes with Kurt Fuller as the coroner– love him. He’s a great addition to the show.
Really enjoyed Henry and Kim’s flirtation. Henry has definitely improved from his awkward interaction with “Sue B.”!